Canada

Samsung and Pattern begin key Ontario project

CANADA: Samsung and Pattern Energy have reached financial closure on the 270MW South Kent wind farm in Ontario.

Pattern and Samsung are developing the 270MW South Kent project

South Kent, expected online at the end of the year, is the first capacity of a planned 2GW of wind the partners are developing in Ontario under an agreement with the provincial government.

Financial closure means the project is now under construction.

It follows a legal challenge in December, when Ontario's environmental review tribunal dismissed an appeal of the renewable energy approval for South Kent. The panel said the appellant, Chatham-Kent Wind Action Group, failed to show that the project would cause serious harm to human health.

The development is part of a controversial deal between the provincial government and a South Korean consortium headed by Samsung and including German technology gient Siemens and South Korean tower supplier CS Wind.

The group pledged to invest C$7 billion (US$6.8 billion) over six years in renewable energy development and manufacturing in the Canadian province.

The deal includes the establishment of factories to produce turbine towers and blades, and the installation of 2GW of wind energy. The South Kent wind farm is one of the first projects to fall within this commitment.

The blades will be made by Siemens at a factory in Tillsonburg and the towers by CS Wind at a plant in Windsor.

So far, Samsung and Pattern have concluded power purchase contracts for four projects in Ontario totalling 870MW.

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